Credit: Falls Twp. Police
A Middletown woman was arrested by Falls Township police on charges that she stole items from a New Jersey salon and pawned them at a Levittown-area pawn shop.
Sara Piccolo, 24, was arraigned before District Jan Vislosky on 56 counts of felony receiving stolen property on Monday. She was sent to county jail on 10 percent of $200,000 bail.
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Since June 6, Piccolo is accused of pawning 56 bottles of expensive shampoo. Police said they believe all of the shampoo was stolen.
Falls police said they followed Piccolo and watched her enter Salon Centric in Edison, N.J., which is about 50 minutes away, with an empty purple bag. A short time later, the 24-year-old would walk out and the bag would appear full, according to court documents.
Investigators said Piccolo would then go to Morrisville Loan and Pawn on West Trenton Avenue in the Morrisville section of Falls and sell the stolen hair care products.
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Police told LevittownNow.com that the pawn shop would then sell the stolen shampoo online.
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Over the course of her alleged theft spree, police said Piccolo received about $7,000 for the pawned hair care products, while the salon said they lost between $12,000 to $15,000 in product.
When questioned, Piccolo said she was out of work and needed the money, according to court records. Police said she told them she would steal beauty items three to five times a week.
Investigators were tipped off to Piccolo when they ran records that showed that the 24-year-old had pawned a high number of items at the West Trenton Road shop. Detectives Dennis Connell and Joseph Coffman began a surveillance operation on the woman.
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Police followed Piccolo from her Middletown home to the salon in New Jersey and back to the Falls pawn shop.
